Sign



6. R. PYPER.

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APPLICATION FILED MAR. I2. I 920` .Patented June 21, 1921.

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i i i GEORGE Et. PYPER, 0l? SALT LAKE CTY, UTAH.

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Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented J une 21, 1921.

To all w hom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, Grenen lt. Prrnu, citizen ot the United States, residing at Salt Lake City, in the county ot' Salt lialre and State of Utah, have invented new and useful Improvements in Signs, ot which the following is a specilication.

My invention is concerned with'animated signs, and is designed to produce a novel apparatus employing a method tor animating signs wherein there is produced the appearance of the lilling or emptying ot a receptacle, or the emptying of one receptacle into another, and that without the employment cfa large number of individual lights and switching mechanism whereby they can be flashed on or oit in a certain predetermined order and manner that has heretofore been found necessary to produce the illusion.

ln carrying out my novel method, a generally opaque screen plate is provided having the receptacle with its maximum con4 tents outlined by pertorations or small translucent portions (the perforations 'for liquid contents being arranged in horizontal rows) illuminated from the rear by one or more powerful lights, and the appearance of emptying` a receptacle is produced by automatically moving an opaque shutter between the light and the perforations representing the contents so as to cut oil one row of pertorations after another from the illumination from the top downward. lin producing the appearance oi lilling, the movement of the shutter will necessarily be so as to permit the illumination ot successive rows ot perforations representing the contents upward, and where the apparent emptying of one receptacle fills another, the pair of shutters must be connected or so operated in synchronism that one cuts ed the perforations representing the contents Afrom Vthe emptying receptacle at the same rate that the other permits the illumination of the' perforations representing the contents ofi the receptacle being illed, and ll mayalso provide a connecting set of pertorations from the receptacle being emptied to the receptacle being` iilled. together with a rotated slotted animating disk so as to produce the effect ci the contents filling from one receptacle into the other.

To illustrate my invention, l annex hereto a sheet of drawings in'which the same reference characters represent identical parts in all the figures, of which-- Figure l is front elevation ot a sign employing my invention and showing the contents of a bottle being emptied into a glass;

2`is a rear elevation ot the same with the rear wall ot the casing removed; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view in section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 2.

The front plate 54C of the casing, or the screen plate as it is ordinarily designated, will have the bottle outlined by a series of pertorations 55 therethrough, which perforations are covered from the rear by a channel 57 secured to the rear of the screenplate and having mounted therein a series of small spaced incandescent lights 58 which may always be illuminated, unless it is desired to flash the sign completely on and oit, in which case customary flashing mechanism will be employed. llhe glass into which the contents ot the bottle are shown as being emptied is outlined by the perforations 56, which are likewise inclosed in a channel secured to the rear ot the screen plate 5e similar to the channel 5'!" and like it illuminated by small spaced incandescent lights contained therein.

rllhe maximum contents of the bottle are outlined by the series of horizontal rows'of pertorations 59, which are preferably rendered very tra slucent by securing on the baclr ot the screen plate the cover 85 of thin paper which may be whitev or any color which it is desired to give to the contents ot the bottle. lhe maximum contents of the glass is likewise indicated by a similar series of pertorations 60, preferably similarly covered by the sheet of translucent material 85. Another set of' pertorations 61 of the same vcharacter as the perforations 59 and 60 are shown as leading from the mouth of the bottle to the top of the glass and are similarly covered by the sheet 85..

To produce the desired animation of the foregoing figures, the following apparatus and arrangement will be employed: 'The body ot the casing is preferably divided by partitions into the three compartments 62, 63 and 64, which contain respectively perforations 59 representing the contents of the bottle, and the pertorations 6l which represent the contents flowing trom the bottle into the glass, and theperforation which represent the contents of the glass. rSupported tion of perforations 61 is the incandescent` light 78 and similarly supported in the compartment 64 back of the central portion of the perforations 60 is the light 80. Mounted inthe compartment 62, as by being fulcrumed at 66, is the shutter 65, which may have the counterweight 67 thereon, and

. which is shaped so that as it is swung downward on its pivot, its lower edge successively cuts olf the rows of perforations 59 from the illumination of the lights 77. Journaled on a suitable bearing back of the channel for the glass is the shutter disk 70, which has a considerable portion ofthe face thereof cut away so that the contentsV of the lass will be illuminated beginning from the ottom and extending upward as the cut away portion 81 rises during the rotation of the disk in the direction indicated by Ythe arrow. The effect of the contents falling from the bottle into the glass is produced by the animating disk 74, which is journaled Y on the stub shaft 7 3 Yin such a position that the regular spiral slots 79 therein travel relative to the light 78 so that alternate waves of illumination and darkness pass in the general direction of the curve outlined by the perforations 61.

As a convenient method of moving these various animating members, I employ the small electric motor 76 supported in the compartment 63 and having a small pulley on its armature shaft connected by the belt 75 with a groove in the periphery of the disk 74, so that said disk is rotated at the proper speed to simulate the falling of the contents. To rotate the disk 70, I employ the crossed belt 71 connecting the small pulley on the hub of the wheel 74 with the grooved periphery of the disk 70, and to swing theV shutter 65, I employ the crank arm 69 secured on the hub of the disk 70 and connected by the link 68 with the shutt'er 65 at such a point that the complete ro-` tation of the crank arm 69 will swing the shutter 65 down and back the desired distance. While a pleasing effect is produced by keeping the currentV on the lights 77, 78 and 80 constantly, preferably arrange'a iiasher so that the current will be cutoff during the time that the shutter 65 is rising.

While I have shown and describedmy invention as embodied in the form which l? at present consider best adapted to carry out its purposes, it will be understood that it is capable of modifications, and that I do 'not desire to be limited in the interpretation of the following claims except as may be necessitated by the state of the prior art.

What I claim as new and desire` to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an animated sign, the combination with a generally opaque screen plate having a receptacle outlined thereon by artificial villumination and series of relatively small, closely spaced light transmitting portions in the screen plate within the outlined receptacle and simulating when illuminated its contents, of a source of artificial illumination back of the'light transmitting'portions, a shutter mounted to move between the source of illumination and the light transmitting portions, and means for moving the shutter so as apparently to vary the contents of the outlined receptacle.

2. In an animated sign, the combination with a generally opaque screen plate having a pair of receptacles outlined thereon by illumination and series of light transmitting portions in the screen plate within both the outlined receptacles and outlining their con tents, of a source of illumination back of each of these two series of light transmitting portions, a pair of shutters mounted to move between the two sources of illumination and the two series of light transmitting portions, and means for moving the shutter for the receptacle being emptied downward and the shutter for the receptacle being lled upward so that the contents of one receptacle appear to disappear from it and to appear in the other. Y

3. In an animated sign, the combination with a generally opaque screen plate having a pair of receptacles outlined thereon by illumination and three series of light'transmitting portions in the screen plate, one within each of the outlined receptacles and the third between the same, of a source of illumination'back of each of theV three series of light transmitting portions, a pair of shutters mounted to move, one each between its source of illumination and the light transmitting portions outlining the contents of a receptacle,A a slotted animating disk journaled back of the third series, and means for moving the shutter for the receptacle being emptied downward at the same time the shutter for the receptacle being' 'filled is moved upward, andV rotating the animating disk to produce the appearance of the fall* ing of the contents from the receptacle being emptied to the receptacle being filled.

' 4. In an animated sign, the 'combination with a generally opaque screen plate having a pair of receptacles outlined thereon by illumination and three series of light transmitting portions in the screen plate, one f transmitting portions outlining the contents of a receptacle, a slotted animating disk journaled back of the third series, and means hfor moving the shutter l'or the receptacle being emptied downward at the same time the shutter for the receptacle being filled is moved upward, and rotating the animating disk to produce the appearance of the falling of the contents from the receptacle being emptied to the receptacle being filled, said means consisting of a crossed belt connecting the hub of the animating disk with the periphery of the circular shutter for the receptacle being filled and a link connecting a crank arm of the hub of the last mentioned shutter with the shutter of the receptacle being emptied.

5. In an animated sign7 the combination with a generally opaque screen plate having a pair of receptacles outlined thereon by illumination and three series of light transmitting portions in the screen plate, one within each of said receptacles and outlining its contents and the third between said receptacles, a casing back of the screen plate having partitions dividing it into a space for each of the three series of light transmitting portions, a source of illumination within each of the three spaces or compartments, a swinging shutter mounted in each of the compartments for the receptacles between a source of illumination and the light transmitting portions7 a slotted animating disk mounted to rotate in the compartment for the connecting light transmitting portions7 and means for swinging said shutters and rotating said disk.

GEORGE R. PYPER. 

